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Work Those Affiliate Programs and Make Some Cash!

Posted on March 6, 2002

Stop Missing More Sales, Start Accepting Credit Cards

It's a known fact, accepting credit cards on your site will
increase your sales. Charge.Com lets you take MasterCard,
Visa, American Express, and Discover. They have the best
rates, over 95% of applicants are accepted, and there's
NO APPLICATION FEE.

So you've joined your first affiliate/associate program and
slapped that big old banner on your site. All you have to
do now is sit back and wait for the bucks to come rolling
in. Not so fast there, Bucky...there's a lot more to making
money with affiliate programs than that. If your best effort
is going to be that banner, don't plan on retiring any day
soon.

As with everything else online and off, what you get out of
an activity is equal to the effort you put into it. So if
you want to make some serious cash with those programs
you're joining, you're going to need to promote them. There
are a variety of methods you can use. Here are a few that
I've used with success:

My first suggestion to you is to join only those programs
that relate to the theme of your website. Make sure they're
a "good fit" with your site and that they pay out "healthy"
commissions. A $2.00 bounty is hardly worth the work
involved to earn it, like:

Weaving the URL's throughout your site. Make sure you weave
the URL's throughout your site or devote whole pages to
their topic.Don't just use banners, use alternatives like
text links within your pages. Banners have become so
saturated online that a lot of folks tend to ignore
them,not to mention the extra weight they add to your
pages.

Most programs you join will give you a variety of ads to
use in your promotion efforts, but for best results you
really should be creative and write some of your own. All
too often I see the same old advertisement repeated over
and over online until I want to scream. A little creativity
stressing the benefits of your product will take you a lot
farther then canned ads that 10,000 other affiliates are
using.

Make a habit of scanning discussion boards and look for any
opportunity to answer a question or give advice using your
affiliate link. At the least, make the link a part of your
signature line and use in your e-mail correspondence and
newsgroup postings.

If you publish your own ezine, make sure you keep a list of
text ads for all of the associate programs you participate
in and pick two or three to put in your newsletter every
time you publish. If you've purchased the product yourself,
a personal endorsement will pique your subscribers'
interest and motivate them to click through. Your
subscribers trust you, so don't recommend something you
don't believe in.

Don't forget about placing your ads in other ezines that
cater to your target audience. There are plenty of
inexpensive newsletters just waiting for your ad copy. Say
an ad cost you 10.00, and from that ad you make three
associate sales that add up to $100.00. That's a pretty
nice return on your investment.

One trick that has worked well for me over the years is
placing my associate links in e-books that I've written.
Since the books are given away for free there's no telling
how many people will see those links and possibly make a
purchase. If your book is well written and popular you
could stand to make some decent revenue from the associate
programs that you've placed in it.

Associate programs really are a great way to make some cash
online, but a banner alone is not going to do it. Start
promoting your "special link" every chance you get....and
you'll be rolling in the dough in no time at all.

Merlehttp://www.EzineAdAuction.com"Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made"
Buy & Sell Ezine Ads in a live auction setting!
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pick up some Fantastic bargains. Go now.